Pregame Glance: Florida State

The undefeated Buckeyes meet the Seminoles of Florida State in Tallahassee for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge this year.  This will be a rematch of last year’s game, played in Columbus, which ended with a 77-64 Buckeye victory.  Ultimately, the Big Ten won their first Challenge in the 10 year history of the event 6-5 and look to be in position to make it happen again.  Let’s look at the ‘Noles.

Florida State was undefeated going into last night’s contest with the Florida Gators.  Early in the game, the Seminoles appeared to be able to match up well with the Gator’s guards, but eventually found themselves down 9 going into the half.  FSU was eventually able to close the gap in the 2nd half and make it a game, but fell 55-51.  This makes Florida State a potentially dangerous opponent, considering Florida gave us some trouble before we were finally able to take control.

This FSU team has a slightly different makeup than the one we played a year ago.  Guard Ryan Reid and Center Solomon Alabi have left the team, taking 24 points from last year’s game with them – 21 of those from Alabi alone.  For the season, the two combined for 19 points and 10 rebounds per game, a significant quantity of the stat stuffing for the Seminoles.  Of course, the Buckeyes are without Evan Turner, who scored 25  in that game last season, so the overall look to the game will be significantly different.

This year, Florida State plays a 3 guard, 1 forward, 1 center rotation since they have an overabundance of quality guards and no true center to see time.  That said, their forwards are still something to worry about.  The leading scorer for the ‘Noles is Junior Forward Chris Singleton (6-9, 227).  Singleton is averaging near 16 points per game on 48% field goal shooting.  He’s also picking up close to 10 rebounds, easily making up for the loss of Alabi.  It seems as if Singleton has finally embraced his role on this Seminole team.

Singleton is paired with Junior Forward/Center Xavier Gibson (6-11, 240).  Gibson’s 8 points and 5 rebounds per game won’t “wow” you, but he uses his time on the court well and gives a solid effort.  He’s the perfect compliment to Singleton’s play in the frontcourt.  He’s not going to take a lot of looks away, but he is there if the defense starts to focus on Singleton a little too much.

Senior Guard Derwin Kitchen (6-4, 198) is the floor general for the ‘Noles this year averaging 3 assists per game.  He does not take a large number of shots, but he hits with a better than 50% accuracy from the floor when he does.  Kitchen is the absolute model of efficiency with the ball, making nothing but good decisions with it.  His usual partner in the backcourt is no less a shooting machine.  Junior Guard Deividas Dulkys (6-5, 196) hits with a 52.6% accuracy from the floor and 46% from three – making him one of the most dangerous shooters in the country.  He only averages around 10 points a game, but if you leave him alone he’ll put a dagger down.

The last name to keep an eye on doesn’t even start, though he probably should with the way he shoots.  Sophomore Guard Michael Snaer (6-5, 200) has hit exactly 50% of his shots from long range, along with 44.4% from the field.  He scores just under 10 points per game while coming off the bench.  Snaer is a ridiculously good player to have coming off the bench, particularly when the starter plays so little and produces even less.

You may notice that all three of these guards are tall for your average collegiate basketball backcourt men.  They will effectively take away the size advantage that OSU generally enjoys in the guard play.  This is likely one of the few teams that will be able to do that, so it will be an interesting lesson to see how the Buckeyes respond.

It will be imperative for the Bucks to play solid defense on the perimeter.  Sullinger will be forced to play Gibson and/or Singleton nearly solo for fear of the kickout three pointer if someone drops to help.  This will be a good test to see how well Sullinger can take over a game against a more experienced and reasonably talented opponent.  He will absolutely have to be able to do this for the Buckeyes to even have a chance at making the tournament this year.

The game will be played in Tallahassee, Florida tomorrow (Tuesday, November 30th) at 7:30 pm Eastern Time.  You’ll be able to find that game on ESPN.

The Buckeye Battle Cry will also be running a LiveBlog event for the game!  Gates will open at 7:00 pm Eastern Time, so stop by and join us!